Rebellion
by Maria-Wolfe
Summary: Iris Finch is a 14 y/o girl who has just arrived in Hoenn on another one of her mothers whims, but after many years of begging she is finally allowed to go on her Pokemon Journey. Armed with her sarcastic and a bad attitude, Isis has an unconventional way of looking at things. Not wanting tame Pokemon, she turns down the original starters, opting for a cunning Poochenya.
1. Chapter 1

I growled lowly, bouncing around in the back of this truck was really grating on my nerves. My mum wanted a change of scenery and decided Hoenn would be the perfect place to relocate to, why you might be asking? My mums reasoning was that she wanted to be able to go and watch Pokémon Contests live like she used to before I was born. See my dad was a Pokémon trainer; nothing out of the ordinary of course as most kids become trainers on their tenth birthday. Well, my mum met my dad while she was travelling in kanto when she was 16 and they started to travel together and well one thing led to another and nine months later I was born. In that time my mum and dad were in Sinnoh so that's where I was born, in a small town called Floaroma town. After giving birth to me, my dad left the room saying he'd be back in a moment. Well, he wasn't, he had ran off leaving my mum alone in Floaroma with a newborn baby. I don't even know his name and that the only thing I share in common with him is my inability to back down. I swear my mum is still in love with him by the way she chatters on about him sometimes.

"Mother fucker!" I shouted, a lamp had bounced out of a box and had landed on my head, just my luck eh?

Luckily the moving truck stopped soon after that and the door unlocked allowing me to climb out. Waiting outside was my mum; although I love her she makes me jealous. Not that I'm one of those girls who whine about their looks or anything but my mum was one of those timeless beauties, even at 30 she looked amazing. High cheeks bones, full pouty lips and soft wavy black hair; it makes me wonder how dad could of left her. While my mum was a beauty, the genes seemed to have skipped me. I had a mass of long black curls that went down to my mid shoulders and thin lips that were mostly always in a scowl and hard grey eyes. I can't remember the last time I wore a dress and when I did I would be wearing my old converse trainers.

I'm fourteen now, four years older than the normal age for people setting out on their journey but anytime I brought up the subject with my mum would just shut down and not speak until I changed the subject. A couple of months ago I had packed up my things and was about to leave, but my mum walked in on me and started to cry. Although I might be a bit of a bitch, if there was one thing to break me down it was my mum's tears. My mum finally realized though how much going on a journey meant to me so she promised once we got to Littleroot I could start my journey.

Once my mum finished talking to the movers she walked over to me, her blue dress swishing around her calves her small heels clicking on the sidewalk.

"Now Iris, I've talked to professor Birch and he agreed to give you a Pokémon to start off with," my mum said, smiling at me, making my old jealousy flair up again.

"Ok, do you need any help here or can I go over to the lab?" I asked, my eyes flitting over to the large building that could only be the Pokémon lab with the sheer size of it and the expanse of land behind it that was filled with many Pokémon.

"No, we're alright here honey." My mum replied, her eyes roaming over my outfit with distaste. "Are you going to be wearing _that?_"

"What's wrong with it?" I snarled, crossing my arms and scowling. I was wearing a loose grey tank top tucked into my bleached jean shorts, a sleeveless red jacket thrown on top and my old faded blue converse. My black side bag hanging by my sides, full of medical items and a folded sleeping bag a few cans of food for me and my Pokémon and my IPod. My hair was in a messy bun on the top of my head, with a few stands hanging loose.

"Nothing I suppose dear," my mum replied, sighing with a sweat drop on the back of her head. "You better head of to the lab then dear, ring me when you can."

I nodded and turned away quickly, trying to ignore the fact I saw tears in my mothers eyes. I headed over to the large green roofed building; a whole side of the building was complete glass and it had details of different pokeball's engraved into the front door frame. I walked through the door with out knocking, scaring some mousy assistant who quickly scurried over to me.

"Hello, are you here to see professor Birch?" She asked, a nervous smile covering her face, her hands wringing together.

"Yeah, where is he?" I replied, straining my neck to look over some equipment as if he would be hiding behind it.

"He's not here."

"What do you mean he's not here? Where else would he be? Bingo?"

"No… he went to route 101 to go study the Zigzagoon"

I huffed and stomped out of the lab, grumbling under my breath about stupid professors who should be in their lab. I marched out on to route 101, ignoring the warning from the little girl about how it was dangerous to go into tall grass without a Pokémon.

"Help! Help!"

I turned in the direction of the shouts, seeing the prestigious professor Birch running in circles, trying to get away from a Zigzagoon.

"Hello, you over there! Please! Help! In my bag, there's a pokeball! Use it and help me!"

I huffed and ignored his warning as he shimmied up a tree, to get away from the barking raccoon Pokémon. I walked up behind the Zigzagoon and grabbed the scruff of its neck; its pup instincts kicking in and making it hang there limply. I looked up at the professor who was smiling sheepishly at me.

"Really professor? A Zigzagoon?"

I placed the raccoon like Pokémon in the grass and tapped it lightly with my foot making it shoot off into the undergrowth.

"Ahem, sorry about that! I am curious about how you knew it would act like that once you grabbed the scruff of its neck," the professor enquired while jumping down from the branch he had been sitting on.

"Pokémon all have baser instinct's, so when you grab the scruff of the neck of a non evolved Pokémon it reacts as it would as if its mother was holding it." I explained, rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly.

I only knew this as my mum used to work at the Solaceon daycare centre when I was little and thankfully the old woman who worked there taught me how to handle young animals as my mum would often have to bring me with her while she worked. The old couple didn't believe in a child being inactive so I was put to work at the young age of 6 helping feed the Pokémon and take care of the babies. The professor nodded in response to my explanation and picked up his back, beckoning me to follow him as we made our way back to Littleroot town. As we passed my house I could see my mums favorite Pokémon, Cassia, her Ninetails basking in the sunlight. See my mum was a type trainer, now if you don't know what this is; it's a Pokémon trainer that only uses Pokémon of a certain type. She had an Arcanine, a Rapidash, a Ninetails, a Flareon, a Typhlosion and a Magmortar. Unlike my mum I wasn't fond on being a type trainer, I wanted different types of Pokémon so I could experience how they all acted. My mums Pokémon all acted like little bitches when they didn't get what they wanted and frankly that pissed me off. I don't know whether that came with being a fire type or my mum was just unlucky to catch a team of whiners.

"Welcome back professor!"

The greeting jolted me out of my musings, showing that my body on autopilot had thankfully followed the professor back to the lab. The greeting was off the same mousy assistant as before, except this time there was a small pink feline Pokémon beside her, it had a stumpy body, short legs a big head and a slender tail with a bulky pink section with three pin like things sticking out of it.

"Ah yes Jasmine, I'm back with this brave trainer who saved my life!" the professor proclaimed dramatically, kneeling on one knee and grabbing my hand. I blinked and looked down at the grown man, who in my opinion was nothing more than a man-child, unsure of how to react other than remaining stoic. "She is well deserving of one of the starter Pokémon! In fact I will also be giving her a Pokedex! It's the least I can do for my savior!"

"Uh I don't want one of the starter Pokémon,"

"What? Why not, they have all be raised to the very perfection right here in this lab!" the professor shouted indignantly, almost as if I was insulting him by not wanting one of the starters, which I kinda guess I was.

"That's exactly why I don't want them, they were raised in a lab which means they don't have that predatory instinct I'm looking for."

The professor sunk to the ground, a sweat drop adoring the back of his head. Before sitting up, a finger raised in the air and a light bulb appearing over his head. He jumped to his feet and dragged me back out to route 101 and took a pokeball from his pocket, releasing a small blue Pokémon with six legs and a Lilly pad on its back.

"You want a Pokémon with a predatory instinct right? Well why don't we get you a Pokémon from the wild? It will have the predatory instinct you're looking for," the professor asked, and receiving a nod from me, we set of down route 101 quickly disappearing into the wilderness surrounding the path.

"So I'm assuming you're Iris Finch correct?"

"Yeah, I'm assuming you know because of my mother calling you?"

"Correct, your mother didn't seem that keen on you starting your journey. What made her change her mind?"

"I was going to run away, I think she finally understood how much it means to me."

"I see."

We continued on for a few minutes before we heard a lone howl, coming from the left of us, followed by a chorus of snarling. Both the professor and myself froze upon hearing this, knowing that Poochenya and Mightyena were extremely territorial Pokémon. The snarling died down soon enough, followed by the distant sound of paws hitting the earth, heading thankfully away from us. I crept forwards and peered through the bushes and looked into the clearing, spotting a mangled mess of black and grey fur spattered with blood in near the opposite edge of the clearing. Not thinking I ran forward and kneeled down next to it, reaching my hand out. A snarl ripped from it, followed by a sharp pain in my right hand, looking down I found a pair of red eyes staring up at me, belonging to the Poochenya. It had its jaw locked around my right hand, its teeth grating on bone. I winced at the sight before placing my left hand underneath it and pulling it towards my chest. I stood up and turned around, spotting professor Birch still hid in the bushes. I sighed and walked towards his, the Poochenya close to my chest.

"Professor I'm not sure what happened, but this Poochenya is injured and it needs medical attention so if you're done hiding in the bushes, could we head back to the lab?" I snarled, scowling at the man-child in the bushes. My bitchy attitude coming out due to the pain in my hand and my worry for the Poochenya.

The professor nodded and we headed back to Littleroot town, heading for the lab quickly. Professor Birch ran into a room in the back, where I quickly followed, entering a room filled with medical equipment and even a hospital bed. I placed the Poochenya on the bed, it having fainted on the way back. I hovered around the bed as the professor placed a box of needles and thread beside it and began to sow up its wounds. The reason for all this fuss was the fact we both had overlooked how easy this could have been solved if I had just caught the poor thing. Once the professor finished sowing the wounds together, he took a small golden star from the box and crushed it over the Poochenya who after a few moments began to wiggle before opening its eyes.

"Pooch, enya! Chenya!" the Pokémon snarled at us, hackles rising and eyes narrowing. He blinked a few times before looking down at himself, noticing the sown up wounds. He snorted and walked forward towards us, first taking a sniff of professor Birch and then of me. Once he got a sniff of my scent, the bite Pokémon made a soft growling sound, licking at my hand.

"Well, I think that decides it! Poochenya wants to stay with you," Professor birch announced loudly, interrupting the key moment. I rolled my eyes and patted my new Pokémon on the head, snorting as it nipped at my fingers.

I reached into my backpack and took out a pokeball, and tapped it to the Poochenya's head, encasing it in a bright flash before disappearing into the ball. It didn't even roll, the small button in the middle of the ball flashed instantly and a slight weight seemed to fill the ball, making me smile. I finally had my first Pokémon, and nothing was going to stop me.


	2. Chapter 2

"Well I think you're ready to go Iris," professor Birch said, handing me a black device, it had the words Pokedex scrawled on the back neatly in red.

"Great, see ya Birch!"

I walked out of the lab; I stayed in the lab for a while after catching Poochenya, helping out with the Pokémon as a sort of thank you gift for helping me find the Poochenya. I've named him Demetri and hopefully he would grow into the name once he evolved. I headed off down route 101, the professor had told me it would only take half an hour to get to Oldale town. I took Demetri's pokeball of my belt, enlarging it and sending out my Poochenya.

"Poochenya!" Demetri exclaimed, running forwards and attacking my hand with licks and soft nips. I smiled and patted his hand, taking out the Pokedex and aiming it at him.

"Hmm, the bite Pokémon, of course. Level 4, quick feet ability…. would that work if he's paralyzed? Only knows tackle, naughty nature, why am I not surprised?" I looked down at my Pokémon who was batting at my shoelace as if he was a Meowth rather than a Poochenya. "Well, we've got some training to do."

We headed off down the short route, for a few minutes we didn't cross any Pokémon until a Wurmple crawled across the road in front of us.

"Demetri, tackle!"

Demetri sped of after the Wurmple, ramming his body in to it, before circling around and ramming into it again, leaving the orange worm Pokémon with spirals in its eyes. Whistling, I called Demetri towards me, scratching behind his head and running my hand through his furry pelt.

Instead of going straight to Oldale town, Demetri and I decided to explore route 101, well mostly me exploring it as Demetri had been born here. While 'exploring' I purposely sought out every Pokémon I could find, ordering Demetri to tackle them, as that was the only move he knew. Surprisingly he did so every time with no complaint, which was a bit odd as with him being born here, wouldn't he know most of these Pokémon? He seemed not to mind so I turned my mind of the matter, focusing on a particularly hard battle with a wild Poochenya.

"Demetri! Use sand attack and follow up with tackle!" I commanded, which set Demetri into motion, he swiped his paw in the ground in front of him, sand spraying up and into the wild Poochenya's eyes. Demetri then vaulted forward and rammed into the wild Pokémon, circling around and slamming into its head, knocking it out. Demetri panted slightly, sitting down on his haunches and letting his tongue hang out.

We had been training for well over an hour and although it had been tiring for the both of us, the work showed as Demetri had leveled up to a respectable level 9. The reason for all this training was one; to turn Demetri into an instinctual fighter, that had worked as he already learnt to circle around and not wait for me to tell him to continue to tackle and two; for protection as he was my only Pokémon at the moment, although I had an idea of what I wanted my second Pokémon to be. I had originally thought that getting a flying type would solve Demetri's weakness against fighting and bug types, which it would but then I realized that flying and dark are both weak to steel types. Until I remembered there's a Pokémon that can learn flying attacks without being a flying Pokémon. And that's how I ended up climbing a tree on route 102.

After a quick heal at Oldale town and checking the time; finding it was only midday Demetri and I set out to find our new teammate. We had spotted it after ten minutes of walking; it was a small acorn like Pokémon with a grey cap on its head and a beige mask covering its face. Upon noticing us it had scurried up a tree and disappeared into the leaves, prompting me to climb after it, my intention wasn't even clear to myself and from the way Demetri was barking at the base of the tree he obviously thought it was idiotic. Reaching nearly the tip of the tree, I spotted a flash of white in the corner of my eye. Turning slowly I was face to face with an angry Shiftry, the Seedot I had been chasing peeking out from behind the huge Pokémon.

"Fuck."

Receiving a strong pound to the shoulder, I felt myself falling to the ground, smashing against branches on the way. Landing with a sickening crunch, I felt my left shoulder pop out of joint.

"Mother fucker! You cock sucking Pokémon!" I yowled, gripping my shoulder a few tears squeezing out of my clenched eyes, making tracks down my face. Yeah, defiantly not wanting a Seedot anymore after this.

Hearing a loud human like yell, I looked up only to see more Shiftry's; only they were all holding real acorns. Cursing I snatched up Demetri who had been licking my cheek in a hope of comforting me, and sprinted away from the rightly named wicked Pokémon, my left arm hanging loosely by my side and my right arm clenched tightly around Demetri jumping over ledges and such to get to Petalburg city. Quickly running over to the Pokécentre, I strolled up to the front desk, staring at the pink headed nurse who was popping a gum bubble and reading a trashy magazine, feet up on the counter. She looked younger than most nurse Joy's, a lot younger she seemed at least 15 years. Clearing my throat purposely, I put a fake smile on my face.

"Hey, I know that must so interesting reading about the new scandals in the region but how about doing your job hmm?"

The nurse gave an indignant shriek, attracting the attention of the other occupants of the Pokécentre. Demetri snickered in my grasp, his small body shaking with mirth as the nurse stomped off into a back room. An older version of the pesky nurse came out of the same room sweat drop adorning the back of her head. She shuffled over behind the desk, and bowed to me, an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry about her, my sister sent her daughter over here to learn how to become a nurse as she's so busy." Nurse Joy explained, smiling grimly. She gasped suddenly, her eyes locked on my mangled shoulder, which at this point was throbbing from being out of place for so long.

"Ah yeah, kinda the reason I came here, fell out of a tree, all the fault of this douche bag Shiftry though. I think its popped out of joint, but I'm not sure all I know is it made a crunching sound when I landed. " I stated smiling slightly as the nurse turned slightly green, I expect she never really had to deal with this bad of injuries as the Pokémon around the area were mainly low leveled, and the high leveled ones rookies like me wouldn't really seek them out.

The nurse nodded and ushered me into the emergency room used for humans, setting me on a bed and leaving the room appearing a moment later with a Chansey by her side. I handed Demetri to Chansey, took of my top leaving me in my bra and placed my elbow in an L-shape against my chest, having dislocated my shoulder before. Nurse Joy nodded at me and started to slowly rotate my arm and shoulder forward, coaxing it back into place with a sharp popping sound. Demetri whined upon hearing the sound, ears flattening against his head, I chuckled and plucked him out of the Chansey's grip with my good arm, setting him on my lap. I wiggled my fingers in front of his nose, distracting myself as nurse Joy began to wrap my shoulder tightly, ensuring I couldn't move it. Demetri nipped at my fingers, tumbling and jumping to reach them, nearly falling off the hospital bed one time, sending me into laughter, jarring my shoulder and causing me pain although I continued to laugh.

"Well its finished, you need to keep the wrap on it until you reach Rustburo city, I'll be contacting my sister to make sure you've kept it on" Nurse Joy warned, a stern look on her face as I huffed, nodding in response and picking up Demetri.

After exploring the town for a while, we set out on to route 104 although it was already 7pm. The reason for this being certain water Pokémon preferred coming out at night as not a lot of humans would be out and I planned on using this to my advantage. We had been walking for an hour and a half now, fighting wild Pokémon and a few trainers but none of them seemed that challenging as they were mostly level 7's and the occasional 8 and with Demetri now being level 12 it was quite easy. At around quarter past ten we arrived at a small beach, the waves lapping at the shore and a few water Pokémon swimming lazily about. I could see a few Magikarp bobbing on the surface of the water, Marill playing on the shore and Corphish sidestepping in the shallow water. I sat down on the stairs leading down to the sand, taking my Pokedex out of my bag, flicking open, noticing that it had taken in the information of the Pokémon I had battled even though I hadn't taken it out. Demetri padded over to the Marill, starting a game of tag with them, causing me to smile at the scene. Demetri's head suddenly shot up, a deep growl resonating in his throat and bolted off.

"Demetri! Wait for me!" I shouted, shoving the Pokedex in my bag and swinging it over my good shoulder while running after my partner.

After running after my partner for ten minutes I lost sight of him, sighing and scratching the back of my head. I was lost; I could only see sand around me along with the vague outline of a house about a mile off. Sighing I readjusted my back and set off towards it wondering what made Demetri run off. Shit my shoulder was hurting like a motherfucker, stupid Shiftry's and their drag queen hair.

~PoV change~

_Demetri_

I was playing a game of chase with two young Marill's when I caught this delectable scent that just made me want to find it. I shot off northwards, nose in the air hoping for another waft of the scent on the wind. After following the scent for an hour I found myself at a sort of shack by a dock, the shack stank of rotting fish and a sort of bird. Underneath the scent of fermented fish and bird droppings, I made my way behind the shack and spotted the reason for the delectable scent. A Meowth. My mother told me about these creatures, before she was release from her trainer she had travelled in a region called Kanto, she had told me of the mouthwatering scent of these Pokémon, the reason for this being that they were any canine Pokémon's rivals, along with Skitty and something called a Glameow. This was odd though as a Meowth's consider a bird Pokémon their rivals and I found weird, as don't felines eat birds? Their delectable scent was something called ferry-mones, which made us canine Pokémon want to chase them and eat them. In my hunger ridden brain I vaguely noticed that this Pokémon must have been released by a trainer, but discarded the thought focusing on my prey.

I snuck up behind the feline Pokémon, drool pooling in my mouth from the scent. Noticing it was preoccupied with licking a Magikarp bone, I clamped my maw around its hind leg, dragging it backwards and away from the shack, placing my front paw on its tail.

"Demetri! What are you doing!" my trainer screeched, grey eyes wide as she took in the scene.

"It's food!" I barked back, although I knew she couldn't understand me, that was another thing my momma taught me, humans don't understand us but that doesn't mean they don't care. While replying I had let go of the Meowth's leg, allowing it to yank its tail from underneath my paw and dart behind my trainer, noticing that she was defending him.

"I understand that you're attracted to its scent, but this Pokémon isn't even native here! It's been abandoned and what you did was wrong," my trainers scolded, bending down and scooping up with her good arm the Meowth who purred when she stroked down its back. "How would you feel if you were abandoned somewhere you didn't know and then were attacked huh? You wouldn't like it…although you would relish the fight you would still be a bit scared!"

My tail went between my legs in shame as my trainer scolded me, ears pressing against my scalp. Looking up at her I could see her resolve waver, whimpering a bit I looked straight in her eyes, hoping this trick would get her to forgive me as it had worked with my own mother. Huffing she looked away, a smile blossoming on her face. Turning back to face me she sat on the ground, placing the Meowth in front of herself and placing me in her lap.

"Now Demetri I want you to apologize to the Meowth, although it is fine for you to hunt I don't like that you did it on an abandoned Pokémon." My trainer explained, scratching behind my ear, finding my sweet spot, my tail thumping against her leg in joy. I turned to the Meowth, a scowl taking over my snout.

"I'm sorry, it didn't register that you weren't from around here" I lied smoothly, eyes trained on the feline Pokémon.

"It's fine I suppose," the Meowth replied in a deep voice, surprising me, as I was sure it was a female. Its tail twitched sensing my surprise at its voice, a snide look on its face.

"Great! Now Meowth since your not from around here" my trainer said, avoiding the word 'abandoned' obviously " how about you join my team?"

I snarled in protest, staring up in disbelief at my trainer. Why did she want it, I was useless! My trainer shot me an evil look, my tail disappearing between my legs for the second time today. I sweat dropped, I loved my trainer but she was scary sometimes. The Meowth smirked at my display, sauntering up to my trainer, a limp in his step from his leg wound and rubbing against her side and nodding its head.

"Great! I would be worried about you otherwise," my trainer stated, pulling out a purple spray bottle and spraying the weakling with it, its leg wound disappearing after a few moments.

Bringing out a standard pokeball, she tapped it to the Meowth's head encasing it in light and let it rest in her hand as it rocked violently for a few seconds before the small button flashed, signaling its capture. Sighing she attached the ball to her belt beside mine and stood up after patting my head and stretched her back. Picking up her bag and taking a step away from the shack.

"What do you think you're doing on my property!"

AN: Well I hope that chapter was fine, and I'm sorry for the point of view shift but I felt that that part of the story needed to be portrayed from a Pokémon's PoV, that's also why it took 3 days to write as I tried it in Iris's PoV first and it didn't work. Also sorry for bringing a Pokémon from a different region in but I just had to include one of my favorite Pokémon, and it's not something amazing like a Dratini so I think I'll be all right with this one. Well, hit the review button if you feel like it. Also I know its spelt pheromones but do you expect a Pokémon to know this?

Also mini shout out to my first reviewer RedWarrior702, thank you so much for reviewing!


	3. Chapter 3

Spinning around quickly, jerking my shoulder slightly I saw an old man, scraggly in appearance with a bird Pokémon on his shoulder I roughly recognized as Wingull. He was bald with a shocking white beard, wearing a blue button up shirt with a red vest over it and tan trousers, finishing the outfit were a pair of brown boat shoes. Demetri was growling my side, pressed close against my leg.

"Hush Demetri, sorry sir my Pokémon ran off after a Pokémon and he ended up here, we'll leave now if you want?"

"No that's fine young one, we thought you were sneaking around, a few of the youngsters find it funny to steal my equipment from time to time."

I frowned, why would they do that to this old man? He seemed alright but you never know really, Demetri had calmed down now so I assumed he thought the old man wasn't a threat. I nodded at the old man, throwing a wave over my shoulder as I walked toward the stairs leading off the beach a couple of feet away. I battled a trainer who had a Zigzagoon but nothing too challenging, I estimated it to be around level 7 and it didn't seem to be used to battling. I entered Petalburg woods around midnight, stunned for a moment at the silent beauty it had. Silk threads weaved through two trees connecting them together, creating a sort of hammock where Wurmple's and a few Cascoon lay asleep. Slakoth rested on tree limbs, while Shroomish burrowed in the bushes and Zigzagoon dog piled together in a far off clearing that I had to strain my eyes through the darkness to see. Hearing a yawn beside me, I looked down to see my partner stretching, tail wagging in content as he looked up at me. Chuckling at his behavior, we walked for ten minutes before entering an empty clearing. Dumping my bag in the middle of it, I dug through it and took out the Poké food and my sleeping bag.

"Food time," I said, releasing Meowth from its Pokeball, who stretched immediately on being released, making me frown slightly, how cramped was this thing?

I sat down on the sleeping bag, grabbing two bowls from my bag that my mum must have put in as I didn't remember packing it and emptied the contents of the pokéfood packets into the bowls, chuckling when they nearly attacked the food. I stared at my Meowth, noticing it was slightly crooked half way through. Once they finished licking the bowls clean, earning a roll of eyes from me I set Demetri in my sleeping bag and picked up Meowth in my right arm and sat at the base of a large oak tree, placing the Meowth in my lap.

"Now I know you probably don't trust me a lot due to your last trainer abandoning you but I promise that you'll be with me until either of us dies from old age as long as you want to, I'm not going to force you to stay with me. If you're gonna stay with me you need a name, calling you Meowth just doesn't seem right." I stated, absently stroking his back, catching sight of his shocked expression in my peripheral vision, making me smirk slightly. "How about Erik?"

"Meowth," Erik nodded, purring as he rubbed his head against my good shoulder, seeming to have taken notice that my left one was currently out of use.

Patting his head softly, scratching behind his left ear he purred loudly making me chuckle, standing up we made our way over to Demetri who was now asleep, legs kicking slightly in his sleep and tongue hanging out of his mouth comically. Placing Erik a few inches away from Demetri, far enough not to be kicked and toed off my shoes, climbing in the opposite end, smiling at the weight of my two Pokémon on my feet, keeping them warm.

~PoV change~

_Erik_

I woke up early the next morning, stretching my back as I began to lick myself clean, pondering my new trainer as I did so. My new trainer was certainly different from my last trainer, he was cruel and while I had the bond of being his Pokémon, it didn't mean he gained my respect. See, what most trainers don't know is that to have a Pokémon truly trust you it takes a lot, and for them to even love you its quite hard for a Pokémon to understand. In the beginning I can say that I did love my old trainer, I was the first Pokémon he caught beside his starter, he took care of me and made sure I had what I needed. Then suddenly everything changed, his brother had won against the champion of kanto and was now the champion. From there it was non-stop training, being forced to fight against Pokémon I obviously was weak against. After a failed attempt at a gym battle with a fighting master, my trainer lost it, screaming at me that I was worthless and stomped on my tail breaking it in two. From then my tail has been crooked, and when pressure was put on it a particular place the pain was unbearable. Another thing many trainers didn't know was that when a Pokémon was released, it was returned to the level it was when it was caught; you can imagine how traumatic it can be for some Pokémon? A level 26 Meowth suddenly being returned to level 5, its beforehand learned moves disappearing and returning with the ones that they would have at that level, it was traumatizing, well at least for me. My new trainer seemed nice; she saved me from her Pokémon even though she didn't need to, and for that I was grateful along with that she had offered me a permanent place on her team and a name. Erik, I liked the name, a lot in fact but I'm not sure why but it suited me somehow. My other teammate began to stir, his legs had been kicking in his sleep as many canine Pokémon's legs did when they were asleep, the reason seeming to be that they were running in their dream, probably after my kind or a Taillow. His snout scrunched up and he let out a huff of air, rolling onto his front before standing up and began to circle around me, his steps quiet as to not wake our trainer who was still asleep a few feet away.

"You're now on our team, which means that I now have to look out for you. Don't argue," he barked, scowling at my indignant expression I knew was pasted on my face. "I don't know how your last team worked, but on this team I'm the leader and that means you're my pack mate, my family. Family looks out for family, no matter our instinctual differences I will look out for you and I expect you to do the same for myself and _our _leader." Putting emphasis on the our, he was showing that although he might be the leader of what ever other Pokémon came on our team and myself, our trainer was the true leader no questions asked.

I nodded, my eyes trained on the Pokémon who still stalked around me in circles that slowly got smaller and smaller until he finally stopped in front of me. Letting out a snort, he brushed up against my sides, marking me with his scent, as an alpha would do to a beta, to show dominance. My head dropped out of instinct and a slight flush flooded across my face. He glanced at my face, snorting and rolling his eyes although I could see a smirk decorating his maw. Huffing, I stomped over to my trainer, lying beside her hand and l nipped her fingers a few times, not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough to wake her gently.

"Morning Erik," my trainer smiling, and scratched that one point behind my left ear that had me purring and her chuckling. I could hear Demetri chuckling in the background and ignored it, pointedly looking away from his direction.

My trainer quickly packed up her things and I was surprised she wasn't going to make me go back into the ball, but I was happy I didn't have to go in there, it was too cramped. We had been walking through the forest for at least two and a half hours. Once my trainer had taking out her talking box, which somehow told her things about me, she found out that I was only level 5 while I knew Demetri was approaching level 14 fast. My trainer didn't get angry and force me to attack the higher leveled Pokémon on my own; she purposely sought out pairs of wild Pokémon so we could fight side by side which shocked me that she would think of my own comfort above hers as finding pairs of Pokémon often meant a lot of walking and I could see it was taking a toll on my trainer. She was sweating slightly and she winced every once in a while when she was directing us in battle. Suddenly a man dressed mostly in green came running up to us, my claws springing forth from my paws as I moved to stand in front of my trainer, on Demetri's right as was the alpha of our unlikely pack.

"Hi there, have you seen a Pokémon called Shroomish around here?"

A man dressed in blue ran up behind him, stopping a few paces away.

"I was going to ambush you, but you had to dawdle in Petalburg Woods forever didn't you? I got sick of waiting so here I am! You Devon researcher, hand over those papers. "

The man wore a blue headscarf with a weird A on the front, a black and white striped shirt and trousers with three out of place white rings going along the side. What silly clothes for a human, luckily my trainer doesn't wear things like that; truthfully the colors hurt my eyes. The man dressed in green screamed shrilly and shot behind my trainer, shivering in fright.

"You're a Pokémon trainer right? You've got to help me please!" the man begged like a fool, causing my trainer to roll her eyes in exasperation, my own eyes following this when he looked ready to burst into happy tears.

"No one who crosses Team Aqua gets any mercy, not even a kid like you!" the grunt shouted, releasing a Poochenya into the fray, Demetri spotted the thing and placed a paw over his snout to disguise his laughter. He was about to step forward when our trainer beckoned me to step up and fight.

I nodded and took a few steps forward, my claws sliding out a few more millimeters in preparation; from all the training I was at a decent level 10. Working alongside Demetri had taught me something about our trainers battling style, she didn't want us to completely rely on her, which was a good strategy as if the battlefield was covered with smoke and she couldn't see we knew she trusted us to use our instincts.

"I'm going to enjoy snapping your bones Meowth," the grunts Poochenya snarled, a twisted look on her face. I faintly heard a rumble of a growl from behind me but ignored it, springing forward and tackled the dark type to the ground.

"Lock down on its leg with bite and then scratch the shit outta it Erik!" my trainer crowed, pumping a fist up into the air in joy as I attacked ruthlessly, dark fur littered the ground and the dark type was panting slightly as I released it from my jaws.

It leapt forward to tackle me, but I quickly sidestepped it, forgetting to move my tail out of the way, regretting it when its sharp teeth clamped down on my appendage. Yowling in pain, I stood still, teeth gnashed together to stop the sound of my pained yowls getting loose although it was obvious from my pained keens I wasn't able to move until it let go. I looked up at my trainer who was chewing on her bottom lip hard enough to break the skin, her brow was furrowed until she let out an annoyed sound and slapped her forehead.

"I'm an idiot, Erik use fake out!"

I stood up on my hind legs and clapped my paws together, letting out a shockwave that caused the Poochenya to let go of my tail and to slam into a tree, fainting on impact. My jaw dropped as I realized I had won my first battle on my own with my new trainer, without help. Demetri barreled over to me and circled around me, licking my wound on my tail, slightly appeasing the pain as seconds went by. My trainer marched up to the grunt and stomped on his foot, leaning her face up to his, the scene was quite comical as my trainer barely hit five foot and the grunt had at least six inches on her and yet the grunt was shaking slightly.

"So, bob, is that your name? No, well it is now, would you like to tell me why you're harassing a researcher?" my trainer asked, her voice a deadly whisper as her lips turned down into their trademark scowl and her stone eyes narrowed.

"My leader is after something in Rustburo, that's all I know, I swear." The grunt stuttered out as my trainer, smirked and lifted her foot before slamming it back down again, smiling when he yowled in pain. "That's for my Meowth."

The grunt nodded and hastily returned his Pokémon before quickly limping off in the direction of Rustburo city. I was shocked; my trainer hurt one of her own kind for me? My face-hardened as my resolve to protect my new trainer increased. If she was willing to hurt her own kind for me even though I wasn't even her Pokémon for a day yet, then I was going to help Demetri protect her no matter what. Demetri was right, family takes care of family and my trainer and he was now my family, and I couldn't ask for a better one.

~PoV change~

_Iris _

I smiled as I saw how Demetri interacted with Erik after such a short time, I knew Erik would be unnerved by Demetri's behavior as I doubted the Pokémon from his last trainer ever really looked our for him. I turned to the Devon researcher, who was petting his briefcase as if it was his precious child or something. He took notice of my staring and flushed slightly, straightening up and bowing in gratitude towards me and my Pokémon, which in turn made a large sweat drop appear on the back of my head.

"Thank you so much for protecting me from that grunt, he was after my secret papers! Here I'll give you a great ball in thanks!" the researcher almost screeched in joy, practically throwing a blue pokeball at me as if he was trying to catch me. "Wait didn't that team Aqua grunt say that they were after something in Rustburo city? Uh-oh! It's an emergency I cant waste anymore time!"

The man sped off, tie hitting him the face as he puffed unhealthily. I grimaced at the sound, not attractive. Whistling sharply, I set off after the researcher, he at least would know the way out. Hearing my whistle, Demetri bounded after me, Erik scrambling to keep up. I knew that Rustburo gym was a rock type gym, so I was at a disadvantage with my Pokémon unless I added a grass type or water type and I'm not fond of Shroomish and Seedot is definitely out of the equation. Eh not sure how I'm going to win this one, as long as it's a double battle it won't be that bad. After another hour of walking we arrived at Rustburo at around midday, and to be honest I was sweating and not the 'lady glimmer' that my mum gets just the slight sheen on the face, no I was stinking and smelt like a Tauros. I started to chuckle at that thought, I'm so lady like aren't I? Still chuckling I ignored the odd looks from passerby's and headed further into the city, looking for the Pokécentre, spotting it behind the Pokémart and headed in. Strolling up to the front desk, I leaned down into the nurse's face.

"Hey, can I have a room please? While you're at it can I take this wrapping off now?"

Nurse Joy looked up with a startled yelp, seeing my face so close to hers.

"Oh of course, you must be Iris Finch right? My cousin said you would be here soon, she also said you gave my daughter a telling off, thanks for that I can never seem to set her straight." The nurse revealed, sweat drop adorning the back of her head. She ushered me into a patient room and told me to take off my top, which I did, chuckling when my two Pokémon looked away, my little gentlemen.

"So I imagine you'll be taking on Roxanne?"

"Yeah I'll be having a go, but I doubt I'll beat it the first time, I'm not totally at a disadvantage but rock types have amazing defenses and obviously none of my Pokémon know water moves," I replied, shooting a wry smile at Erik as he peeked between his claws at me, chuckling when he spun away once he saw I noticed. Putting my shirt back on, I stretched my shoulder, rotating it to get rid of the stiffness in it.

"Well I hope you win," the nurse said smiling brightly, dropping the gauze into a bin and turning back to me.

I decided that I wasn't going to challenge the gym today; I'd spend some time around the city and then go to the large lake we had passed after finally exiting the forest. After chatting with Nurse joy for a few more minutes, my team and I set out to find the department store instead of the Pokémart as I wanted to see if I could buy something my Pokémon, I had accumulated a fair amount of money from battling that snooty rich girl with the Zigzagoon. When you lost a battle you had to hand over half your money, she had given me ¥1400 and all together I had at least ¥8000. I knew that the prices would be well out of my price range, so I dragged my Pokémon away from the food stalls and walked to a small thrift store that was slotted between two empty shops.

"Welcome, how may I help you today honey?" a kind woman asked, smiling and showing her dimples. A Kirlia was sat on a high stool next to the woman, waving brightly at my Pokémon and I, which we returned, well as for my Pokémon tried to.

"I was wondering is there anything I could buy for my Pokémon and for myself?"

"Dear, I think have just the thing for you and your Pokémon" the woman replied, shuffling into the back of the store, coming out with a braided leather cuff bracelet with a metal crest of an Iris set in the middle, along with two smaller versions.

"Uh well they're really nice, but quick question is it just a coincidence that there's an iris on the crest or…?" I question, my natural scowl deepening as I stared at the woman, right eyebrow arching slightly.

"Oh it's no coincidence Iris, every now and again Kirlia gets a feeling that something needs to be made and when that happens no questions are asked," the woman replied with a smile, Kirlia dancing along the counter towards us, waving happily at me.

"Uh okay, how much?"

"No charge for these dear."

"Hmm are you sure? They must've taken quite a while to make."

"A week for each."

Staring at the woman's smile I chuckled at her stubbornness, taking the larger of the cuffs I held my arm out for the woman, who quickly tied it tightly onto my wrist until it felt like a second skin. Shaking my head slightly I grabbed the two smaller cuffs and bent down to my two Pokémon, attracting their attention.

"Well guys, these are my presents to you, they show that you're part of my family now, you don't have to wear them if you don't want to," I stated, holding out my hand where the cuffs lay. They were small enough to fit around a foreleg just above the paw and could be tightened to make sure it would stay in place and not rub.

"Poochenya!"

"Meowth," Erik replied, looking scathingly at Demetri's loud bark and strolled up to me and presented his left foreleg as a king would to a person of lower status. Trying not to laugh at his dramatics I tied it around his leg, tightening it so it wouldn't rub and would stay in place. Demetri trotted over and held out his left foreleg as well; tail wagging as I tied it in place.

"Thanks for this, what's you name?" I asked the woman, standing up and turning to look at her.

"Lorelei Adams," she responded, sending a kind smile my way when I blinked in response. Lorelei Adams used to be the gym leader of Mossdeep City; she took over the gym at age 15, retiring after running the gym for twenty years. This all happened seven years ago but that doesn't mean anyone forgot about her, she had an extremely powerful team, her Kirlia being the powerhouse.

"Uh wow, I'm honored to meet you," I stuttered out, knowing my eyes were wide and my scowl had lessened a bit.

"It's an honor to meet you too dear, I know you're going to do great things." Lorelei smiled, nodding to Kirlia when she saw my confused face.

After saying goodbye to Lorelei and thanking her again, my team and I set out for the Pokécentre thinking about what Lorelei had said. How I would do great things, what if I didn't want to do great things? I'm not exactly a sociable person, the only person I really interacted with was my mum, and anyone else who tried usually got bored as I had more fun helping out at the daycare than when I was around him or her. Boys didn't fall over themselves trying to talk to me, and to be honest I was glad, I had seen boys doing that to the popular girls and I got embarrassed just from watching it. I sighed shaking my head at my thoughts as we entered the Pokécentre, walking up to the front desk where nurse Joy was sitting.

"Welcome back Iris, I'm assuming you'd like a room?" Nurse Joy asked, her face in the eternal 'Joy smile' that all nurse Joy's had down to a T.

"Yeah if there's one available," I replied, knowing that normally all the rooms were full in Pokécentre's as a lot of trainers didn't like to sleep outside, which I didn't see a problem with but tonight I really needed a shower, I could smell myself and it was not an attractive scent to say the least.

"I kept one for you," Nurse Joy replied, smiling a sincere smile rather than the one she always wore, handing me a key. "It's room 206, just up the left stairs, down a bit and on the right."

"Thanks," I replied, trudging up the left staircase twirling the key around my pointer finger as we strolled down the hallway, stopping at our room for the night. Pushing open the door and walking in, I immediately walked into the bathroom, dumping my bag by the door.

"Get your asses in here!" I called to my Pokémon taking off my over vest and toeing off my shoes, kneeling on my knees as I ran the bath. Demetri barreled in, Erik following hesitantly, eyeing the water with distrust. "You two are as dirty as me, so you can either get in the easy way or the hard way." I stated, eyeing the mud that was clinging to Demetri's underbelly and Erik's legs that were coated with dirt from the battle against the Poochenya. The cuffs I had bought just over an hour ago were now smudged with mud but luckily the things were waterproof so the bath wouldn't damage them.

Demetri immediately jumped into the bath, splashing water all over Erik and I, earning an annoyed look of me and a yowl of Erik. Demetri growled lowly in his throat once he saw Erik slowly backing out of the bathroom, his maw pulling up in a snarl showing his sharp fangs, prompting Erik to quickly re-enter the room. Scratching Demetri's head in thanks, I picked up Erik and slowly lowered him into the water, noticing his grimace. Once his paws touched the 3inch water, his grimace disappeared as small smirk appearing on his face right before he swiped his paw across the surface and sprayed Demetri in the face. Letting go of Erik I rocked back on my heels, laughing wildly at the look of shock on my starters face.

"Enya," my starter growled, beginning to stalk towards Erik, making me intervene and splash his as well, arching my eyebrow as he turned on me, which in turn made him sit down and huff.

I grabbed the Pokémon shampoo the centre supplied and began to scrub it into Demetri's pelt, working on untangling his fur and then rinsed him off with the detachable shower head, placing him on a small towel outside the bath, ordering him not to move. I began lathering up Erik when I was sprayed from the side by water droplets, my scowl deepening I turned to Demetri who had a guilty look on his face, his pelt dry in places from shaking violently. Sighing with a sweat drop adorning the back of my head I went back to scrubbing Erik's fur, and washed him off with the shower head and placing him on the towel next to Demetri. Grabbing another towel I roughly dried Erik and Demetri off, chuckling when they both made sounds of pleasure, Erik purring and Demetri growling lowly. Walking into the main room that only held a double bed I picked my bag from outside the bathroom and took out the pokéfood and emptied it into two bowls and headed for the bathroom, trusting them to not make too much of a mess. I entered the shower/bath and turned the heat on high, head drooping as I leant it against the cold shower tiles. I started to muse about the gym battle tomorrow, the first gym battle isn't very challenging as the first gyms Pokémon were rarely ever over level 15 and Demetri had hit level 14 before we exited the forest and Erik had hit level 12 after a few more battles after the grunt. That's another thing I had to worry about, these Team Aqua, I assume they have something to do with water if not their name is highly misleading. They didn't seem that worrying as their outfit was extremely comical as they looks like sailor clowns but if they wanted something that concerned Devon corp. it didn't mean anything good. From my very few trips of shopping with my mother, I gathered that Devon corp. the company dealt in devices that made Pokémon training easier along with 'elite Pokéball's their brand of Pokéball's that affected the Pokémon that were caught with them. Shaking my head to rid myself of these thoughts I shut the water off, shaking my hair out and squeezed the water out of my inky locks, not bothering to brush it as it would just get tangled in a matter of minutes. Wrapping myself in a towel I walked out of the bathroom, steam following me out as I trudged over to my bag and grabbed my oversized top that doubled as my pj's and slipped it on over my towel and once it was on, transferred the towel to my head and wrapped my hair up in a sort of towel turban. My Pokémon had taken up a side of the bed to themselves, placing themselves on the side nearest to the door so I would be furthest away from danger if someone decided to barge in, though I doubted it would happen but I was still grateful. Leaving my hair in the towel/turban I climbed into bed, flicking of the lights with the switch next to the headboard, letting out a sigh of comfort from the soft bed. Eyes fluttering I barely caught the flash of light blue in the corner of my eyes before I fell asleep to the humming sound that encompassed the room.

~PoV change~

_Demetri_

I woke up to the sound of my trainer tripping over her shoes and into the bathroom door, ignoring her annoyed face I made no attempt to stop my guffaws as I padded over to her, licking her knee where it was scraped, swiping away the beads of crimson blood that began to appear. She was already dressed in a cleaner version of what she was wearing yesterday, that's the funny thing about trainers they only really wear one outfit but have many pairs of the same things, which was very weird in my opinion but nothing like that weird grunt in the blue trousers yesterday. I was a bit upset yesterday that my trainer didn't choose me for the fight but I soon realized why, Erik had to learn to fend for himself as his training beforehand was fighting alongside me until he reached a high enough level to easily deal with the wild Pokémon around the area. Erik did well against the other Poochenya although he needed to work on keeping his tail away from opponent's mouths a bit more but other than that he did well. Launching up onto the bed I kicked Erik off the bed, ignoring his yowl of protest, can't be too nice to him can I? Huffing he stuck his tail up in the air, well as best as he could with the crooked appendage and stalked off, whiskers practically vibrating in anger. Snorting I padded alongside my trainer, tail wagging a mile a minute, I was pumped, today was our first gym battle! All excitement aside I had my doubts, I didn't think that we'd be able to win I mean neither Erik nor I had moves that could damage rock types. Most Pokémon were taught the basics of fighting from a young age, the type advantages and such and how to loose an opponent even if you were injured. The only Pokémon that did know these things were the Pokémon that were bred in laboratories, they could try all they wanted but they would never be that great of Pokémon, sure they had the instincts but they couldn't tap into them like wild Pokémon had. Rock Pokémon were weak to water, grass, steel and fighting from what I can remember from my pup days. The pup days are the time before you even get to level one, those are the days where you're taught how to survive and train your instincts. I wasn't widely liked in my old pack, my mother was an outsider and my father was the packs alpha, that didn't go down well with the alpha female, Quickfeet. I don't know my fathers name, everybody just called him alpha as was expected of pack ranking, and my mother was called Waterdancer. My mother was called this as her trainer had taught her a move called rain dance before releasing her and the pack had found her 'dancing' in the rain, her dancing was her reacting badly to a shockwave from a nearby Electrike. Quickfeet also didn't like me because my father taught me how to hunt before her child; he hadn't earned his name yet as my father thought he was useless. The reason for this being he was what the humans call a 'shiny', while trainers fall over themselves when they see a shiny, they overlook the fact that the reason why there aren't a lot of them is because they are so easy to spot and don't blend in well with their surroundings, making them easy targets. So when I went out with all the other pups that had just hit level 5; all Pokémon went out at this age to earn their names, Quickfeet, who then dragged me to a clearing, attacked me and left me there to die, what she didn't count on was my mother hearing my cries for help. My mother had barged in to save me only to be killed by Quickfeet, who then dragged her away from me so that I wouldn't even be able to have my last moments with my mother. I thought I was going to die but then my trainer found me, at first I thought she was Quickfeet come back to make sure I was dead until I smelt her scent, she smelt like my mother, just like the forest after a thunderstorm, wild. I walked into something hard, brining me out of my thoughts.

"Nice one slick," Erik purred out, a smirk decorating his face as he tried not to laugh at the fact I had barreled into the gym doors. I snarled at him, baring my teeth in anger as I darted forward to snap at his face, smirking when he jumped back, tripping over his own tail and landing in a pile.

"Well lets get this over with this," my trainer murmured, leading us into the gym.

The battlefield was littered with rocks some of them had indents of bodies in them. A girl stood on a platform that had a stone staircase behind it, leading to balconies where spectators could watch the gym battles. She had an aura of authority, like the elder pack members who taught us how to fend for ourselves.

"Hello, I am Roxanne, the Rustburo Pokémon Gym Leader. I became a Gym Leader so that I might apply what I learned at the Pokémon Trainer's School in battle. Would you mind if our match was recorded? I try to record all my matches so the students can study actual gym battles and learn about them along with tactics."

"Uh, no I don't mind, what about you guys?" my trainer asked, looking down to the two of us, and nodded towards Roxanne when she got shrugs from us.

"Well this will be a two on two match as my other Pokémon is still injured from my last match, is that fine with you?"

"Yeah that's fine. Demetri, Erik front and center!"

Erik and I sprung into action, landing a few feet in front of our trainer, Erik's claws releasing and a baring his fangs and myself snarling deep in my throat and baring my sharp canines. The gym leader looked shocked at our hostility towards her, taking half a step back between a smirk took over his lips.

"How cute you're little guards are, too bad they're going to be crushed under my rock types! Geodude, Nosepass! Let's crush them!"

My trainer didn't wait a second, " Both of you tackle and bite combo!"

We sprinted forwards, steps in sync as we charged towards the two rock types as they stood uselessly as their trainer said nothing. We slammed into the rock types, Erik taking the Geodude and myself taking the Nosepass, bones shuddering from impact and while he clamped down on the Geodude's arm I went for Nosepass's nose. The Pokémon groaned under the attack, trying to shake us off. Erik hung on as he had dug his claws into the Geodude's head, holding steady as it rocked wildly, whilst I was thrown off into a nearby rock pillar.

"Nosepass use rock tomb on the Poochenya! Geodude keep trying to get that Meowth off you!"

Nosepass held his arms up in the air as the ground around him shifted before rising into the air and moved to hover over me as I was trying to stand up, head fuzzy from being chucked into a rock. The rock shards hovered around me before dropping into a tight circle around my body, restricting my movement so much that I could hardly move.

"Erik, jump up with the Geodude and slam him back down and then use fake out on the rocks around Demetri!" my trainer ordered, chewing her lip deep in thought as her steel eyes were in a stare off with the gym leader.

Erik sprung up into the air the Geodude still in his jaws and twisted and released the rock type so he would slam down onto a pointed rock before sprinting over to me. I lowered my head for the impact as Erik clapped his hands together, a sound wave exploding from him and shattering the rocks around me, giving me small nicks all over my body. The Geodude had fainted on impact, which only left the Nosepass, who had retreated to the far side of the pitch.

"Tackle!" both trainers shouted at the same time, sending all three of us speeding towards each other.

While running towards the hulking rock type I caught Erik's eye, motioning to jump over the Nosepass, hoping he got the idea. He nodded and just as the Nosepass was about to slam into us, we jumped over landing behind him, barely on our feet for a second before using the force of our landing to spring us headfirst into the Nosepass's back. The rock type fell forward and his large nose was imbedded into the dusty floor as he blacked out from exhaustion. I looked over to my trainer who began to run over to us, holding her arms out for us. Erik and I eagerly jumped into her arms, jokingly struggling when she began to pepper kisses all over my snout and snorting when Erik was purring loudly form the affection, probably not used to this and truthfully neither was I, but if winning gym battles is what made my trainer more affectionate, then we were going to be winning every gym battle if I could help.

"So... I lost... It seems that I still have much more to learn... I understand. The Pokémon League's rules state that Trainers are to be given this if they defeat a Gym Leader. Please accept the official Pokémon League Stone Badge. The Stone Badge heightens the attack power of your Pokémon. It also enables them to use the HM move Cut outside of battle. Please take this with you, too. That TM39 contains Rock Tomb. It not only inflicts damage by dropping rocks, it also lowers speed. If you use a TM, it instantly teaches the move to a Pokémon. Remember, a TM can be used only once, so think before you use it."

"Thanks," my trainer responded, lowering us to the ground and bringing out a steel box, in which she placed her gym badge and slotted the TM into her bag somewhere along with the box. "I really enjoyed this battle Roxanne, I'll never forget it."

My trainer began to walk out of the gym, Erik and I following her, we were nearly at the door when the gym leaders voice rang out.

"Wait! How did think of a strategy for out battle?" the gym leader, now holding the camera that was placed next to her during our battle in her hands, pointing it at us.

My trainer began to laugh, her perpetual scowl lifting slightly as she patted mine and Erik's head, looking over her shoulder at the gym leader. "I didn't have one, but you did help even if you didn't know."

The gym leader looked confused, which in turn made my trainer sigh and turn around fully to face the gym leader.

"When you see a trainer with only two Pokémon, you should always assume that those two Pokémon know how to work with each other in a battle setting. Your assumption will either prove to be wrong or right in my case. Since I only have two Pokémon and I caught my Meowth while he was at level 5 and my Poochenya was at level 12 at this time my training plan for Erik was to battle alongside Demetri until he was strong enough to take on the wild Pokémon on his own easily. This was also a way to get them to look over their instinctual rivalry as they learnt to battle with each other, rather than against." My trainer explained, shooting a quick smile at the stunned gym leader and spun around marching out the door, Erik and I at her heels.

AN: Sorry for the week delay of this chapter, I've been busy getting things ready for going back to school next month. So in apology I made this a long chapter with it being 6839 words not including the AN. Also **important news**, well kind of, I'm going to be adding a male rival for Iris a bit after Verdanturf town, so if you've got any suggestions for his Pokémon. His name will be Zelus (Zel-us), which in Greek translates to 'spirit of eager rivalry, jealously, envy and zeal." Next chapter should be up by Sunday at the latest, so thanks for reading, if you want send me a review and tell me what you thought.


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